Embodiments of the invention relate to digital beamforming antenna arrays.
In current digital beamforming (DBF) implementations to date, each channel of a phased array antenna (PAA) requires one individual analog-to-digital converter (ADC). ADCs are complex circuits that can consume processing resources as well as power and space. For example, using the traditional DBF approach, a 10,000 element PAA would require 10,000 ADCs. Although possible, this method would be inefficient in terms of power consumed and dissipated. However, if one ADC could support a plurality of channels, then the total ADC count would be reduced dramatically. This would reduce the overall size and weight of the required circuitry as well as the total consumed power. This feature alone would make DBF an attractive alternative to analog methods. The current invention illustrates methods and architectures which would enable the reduction of the total number of ADCs. It also illustrates a methods and architecture for beamforming that saves processing resources by channelizing the spectrum of a combined digital signal from a single ADC.